Chapter Nineteen King and Ingrid
“You’re late.”
“Maybe the receptionist will forgive me when I show her this?” I dangle a necklace made of rose quartz and turquoise set in a silver moon pendant on the counter.
Ingrid gasps in delight. “Well, my Monday just got a lot better. I forgive you. I actually considered buying this when I went with Marina to that little shop last week.” She confesses, picking up the necklace and draping it over her dark purple scrubs. It falls perfectly between her breasts.
I want to see her riding me, that glowing moon bouncing between her perfect, soft, heavy breasts.
“King?”
“Huh? Oh! Right, yes. Madge told me you liked it. I thought... I thought maybe we were at the jewelry stage.”
Ingrid blushes and tucks the necklace under her shirt. “After this weekend? Maybe we are.”
This weekend was paradise. Peace. Just being together. Replying to videos. Scrolling. Talking to Grace and Nyx about my pets for seniors idea.
Cuddling. Taking the dogs to the park and watching them roll in the leaves.
Watching Ingrid gyrate in my lap as she uses the head of my cock to get herself off.
I swallow hard and try not to think dirty thoughts.
“You’re the last one today, and Kev’s waiting for you. Come on.” Ingrid walks me back. “Why were you at the shop?” Her voice drops. “Do the supernatural residents in town just hit up the magic store like ‘normal’ people hit up the grocery store?”
“Some of them do. I don’t, but I think I’ll be going once a month from now on. To get knotting tea and something else.” I show Ingrid a small blue bottle in the paper bag I’m carrying. “Prophylactic Potion.”
“That’s what? Like—” Ingrid’s voice drops. “Like contraceptives? I take that?”
“No, I take it. Knots and condoms don’t mix terribly well. ‘Cause if I... If we were together— The knot keeps everything in you, and I’d be in you for a long time, and—and my older cousins basically told me when I turned sixteen that potion is the way to go.”
Ingrid says nothing. Leads me in silently, cheeks dark rose red. “Did I screw up?”
“Nope. I... I actually think it’s responsible. It also makes me feel like I got swept up and played fast and loose this weekend. Not that we—”
“No, no! We were careful where things went,” I reassure, even though now I think we should have been more careful.
And some little part of me wants to start a family tomorrow...
“If you wanted kids right away, I’d be cool with that,” I whisper.
“What?” she squawks as we enter the exam room where I always start my sessions.
“I don’t know!” I fire back, uncomfortable, shifting from crutch to crutch as I maneuver myself onto the paper-covered table. “Something about you makes me crave family. Togetherness. Forever-ness. Is that a word?”
Ingrid swallows hard enough that I hear it. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, it should be.”
“Maybe. But remember, slow. We said things should move slowly.”
“Slow is relative,” I sulk. If this were the olden days, I would have already brought her the heads of her enemies and a chest of silver, and she’d be riding back to my clan’s territory.
“Hey, man. You ready for some therapy pool action today?” Kev slides into the room with a broad grin.
Ingrid leaves.
I sigh.
“What now?” Kevin groans.
“I’m in love.”
“Oh. Does she know that?”
“Yep.”
“And she...?”
“Wants to take it slow.”
Kev pats my shoulder. “Okay, tell you what. I’ll put on relaxing music, dim the lights, and get the bubbles going. You get to be out of the immobilizer and float in the therapy pool, letting the warm water do its magic. You’ll feel like a new Orc in no time.”
“Maybe,” I grumble. “I’m okay with taking things slow, really. But when I’m with Ingrid, sometimes my mouth forgets what my brain told it to do. I say dumb things. Like I wanna have your babies.”
Kev looks horrified. “You didn’t really say that, did you?”
“No. But... Well, close.”
“Jesus. Don’t tell me. Just put on these XXXL trunks, Romeo.”
“Hey, Ingrid?”
“Eddie?”
I look up from the insurance codes I’m putting in and see one of Pine Ridge’s EMTs, Eddie Hyde.
My stomach tightens. Eddie is the definition of swarthy, handsome in a brutal way, with dark brows, thick features, and something wicked in his smile. Right now, he’s not smiling.
“Kevin in here?”
I nod. “What’s up?”
“Just brought his wife in to the ER, and she’d like him to come over.”
My throat closes up for a second, then lets out a crow-like caw, “What? Is Marina okay?”
“I think she will be. Just a little lightheaded; she had—had a little accident at work. They’re running some tests. You think he could go sit with her, or is he with a patient?”
“He’ll go either way. I’ll get him. Are you going to wait, or do you need to head back?”
“I’ll walk over with him. Marina’s good people, and Kevin is her only family in town.”
I nod, legs feeling numb as I walk to the back.
Marina isn’t a human. Can they even help her? Will people discover her secret? What if someone finds out what she is, and they lock her up in a lab and experiment on her?
What if something is really wrong? What kind of little accident? Why lightheaded?
Kevin looks up when I enter the big therapy room. King isn’t in it. “Hey, Ingrid. We’ll be done in about thirty minutes. Trying some aquatherapy today to prevent those muscles from getting too tight. If you want to see your boyfriend, he’s in the private therapy pool.”
“Great.” I nod, and the words wash over me.
I’ll be able to focus on them later. Right now, I realize that I have to give Kev bad news.
This is another reason I left nursing. Too much bad news, too many heartbroken faces, too many grieving, sobbing people.
I put on a calm voice and smile, and toy with the idea of just telling him Eddie is in the waiting room and wants to see him. Let Eddie be the messenger.
But I take a deep breath and seize Kevin’s hand, watching the light instantly go out of his eyes and his smile vanish. “What? Oh, God. Ingrid, are you going to break up with him? King is totally in love with you, girl, and I think if you just give him some time—”
“I’m not breaking up with him. He’s great. Kevin, Marina had a little accident at work, and she’s next door. At the hospital. She wants you to come sit with her.”
“Marina? Hospital?” Kevin says only two words, and then he’s a blur. I can barely see him as he grabs his satchel and tears back out of the room.
I follow him, trying to keep up. “King—”
“You’re a nurse, he’ll be fine. Get him out in thirty minutes. Eddie!”
Eddie catches the human torpedo that is a frantic Kevin Bailey. “Hey, man. You’re okay. She’s okay. She’s going to be just fine,” The barrel-chested EMT soothes, hands on Kevin’s shoulders.
Kevin lets out a shaking breath. “What happened? Was it in the pool? Oh, God, did she hit her head?”
“I don’t know. Someone found her in the changing room, passed out, but she’s awake now, and she wants you. You gotta keep it together, okay, stud?” Eddie says firmly. “You’re all Marina has, so you go hold her hand and be the rock.”
“I’m the rock,” Kevin repeats.
“Damn right you are.” Eddie shuffles him out, waving over his shoulder at me.
I stare after them. Eddie was great at handling our freaked-out friend. I’m not okay, though. I’m shaky.
And I want King.
The realization hits my heart like a fist.
For years, I’ve handled things alone. Now, I just want to go sit by him. Be near him. Soak in my worries with him. As I walk slowly back to the therapy pool, I wonder how he’ll handle it. Tell me not to worry? Dismissive waves? Freaking out worse?
This is a test that no boyfriend has ever made it to, let alone through.
Kevin is Marina’s rock. I’m wondering if King will be mine, or if his self-centered ways will come back, or if his immaturity will leave me hanging.
Part of me hopes so, so I can end the rosy dream I keep having, the one where maybe I don’t just have what I need, I get what I want. King makes me think of all the dreams I let go, the dreams I traded away for my perfect little corner of peace and contentment.
A much larger part is praying that I’ve finally found the other half, that I can have peace, and contentment, and love, and passion, and joy, and...
All the things Kev and Marina seem to have.
I run in my non-slip sneakers, bursting in on King as he floats, a green starfish in a sea of gray-blue water in the small pool.
He sits up and looks at me with a huge grin—and then it fades and he swims to the edge, pulling himself up with his muscular arms in one or two strokes.
King is glistening and gorgeous, but what matters is that he knows. He instantly holds his arms out, and his voice is a low snarl that resonates from his chest and ripples across the water. “Ingrid? My Ingrid, what’s wrong?”
“Kevin had to leave.” I slide to my knees and against his chest, not caring if my scrubs soak through as he grabs me in a protective bear hug.
He rocks me and makes me feel small and safe again, like I don’t have to carry the whole world alone—even if I’m capable.
“Marina is in the emergency room. I don’t know what’s wrong, just that she—that they’re running tests.
That could be nothing, or it could be huge.
What if they realize she isn’t human? Would they call the police?
Or the FBI or something?” I babble, digging my hands into his wet skin.
“We wouldn’t let them hurt her. But if it’s a question of what would help her... I don’t know. I don’t know. Come on, hand me my crutches, we’ll go sit with them.” King says.
“But your leg. Aren’t you supposed to—”
“I can soak in a hot tub some other time. Kevin’s a good friend. A much better friend than I’ve been to him.”